ABC Orders ‘Stumptown’ Pilot

Now that it’s a fresh year, networks are hard at work trying to decide what shows they want to be included on their Fall television slate later this year. Networks typically dedicate this time of the year to ordering — and subsequently producing —pilot episodes to see whether or not they’d like to order the show to series.

In the Golden Age of Television, it’s not rare for comic books to find themselves adapted to live-action. In the case of Stumptown, it’s yet another example of a graphic novel turned into a television show. According to a new report from Deadline says that ABC has ordered a pilot based on the Oni Press comic.

Created by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth for Oni in 2009, Stumptown is set to follow Dex Parios, a sharp-witted private investigator based in Portland, Oregon. The series was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2011 for Best Limited Series.

Rucka and Southworth are both set to executive produce alongside showrunner Jason Richman (Detroit 1-8-7) and The District’s Ruben Fleischer (Venom) and David Bernad.

Stumptown will be the sixth pilot ABC has ordered this year behind an NYPD Blue reboot, Triangle, Until the Wedding, The Baker and the Beauty, and The Hypnotist’s Love Story from Heather Graham.

Speaking with Oregon Public Radio in 2017, Rucka explained what he liked most about writing Stumptown.

“She’s a hot mess. I adore her,” Rucka reflected. “There’s a great [Raymond] Chandler line where he says, ‘The detective in the story must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.’ This is the ‘down these mean streets a man must go, who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.’”

“They’re characters who, in one way or another, have to remove themselves from mainstream,” he continued. “They don’t get what we get. They stand on this border, in this liminal space where they can enter any situation.”

There’s no scheduled release date for Stumptown as it is unknown whether or not ABC will order the show to series.